German Grand Prix, Hockenheim, 22 — 24 July 2005
July 22, 2005

Jordan Grand Prix has been finalising preparations for the 2005 German and Hungarian Grands Prix, the third consecutive double-header of the season, with a last two-day test session at the Circuit Paul Ricard on 14 and 15 July, before F1’s summer testing ban. The drivers are looking forward to driving on the “Hockenheimring”, a circuit which was until 2002 one of the fastest on the F1 calendar with incredibly long straights and speeds well over 200mph. Now that is has been replaced by a tighter track, requiring a higher level of downforce, it will be even more important to find the right car set-up and balance. Hockenheim is also renowned for being a very hot race and this could make it a tough situation for the
Bridgestone tyres and the drivers.

Team quotes on the German Grand Prix
Narain Karthikeyan
"The two-day test went very well at Paul Ricard last week. We focused especially on working on different types of Bridgestone tyre and finding a good set-up for the forthcoming races in Germany and Hungary. In Hockenheim, I will do my best to finish the race as I encountered some technical problems at the last two Grands Prix. I am really motivated to do well there. Once again this season, Hockenheim is a circuit I have never driven on, as will be the case in Budapest next week. Therefore, I will have to spend the first sessions learning the layout, but I am up for the challenge."

Tiago Monteiro
"We had two productive days last week at Paul Ricard. We went through different ranges of Bridgestone tyres and found some good options for upcoming events. Overall, we are pretty satisfied with our results. We have also tried some different interesting set-ups and I am looking forward to put that on track soon. I know Hockenheim from having driven there in 2002, however, to be honest I don’t remember it very well. But from what I do remember, it did not seem to be a difficult circuit to learn. We are all very motivated to keep up our good record of consecutive finishes and be there if any opportunity arises and maybe score some more points."

Sporting director: Adrian Burgess
"We welcome Nicolas Kiesa in the team as he will be driving the third car on Friday at Hockenheim. Nicolas will bring some good experience and another viewpoint on everything we are trying to do and this can only help Narain and Tiago. Nicolas has also some previous experience around this circuit, which should help him acclimatise to his new environment. Narain and Tiago had a good test last week
at Paul Ricard, doing some good work for our tyre partner Bridgestone, which hopefully will help us in our preparations for the next two events. We wish Robert Doornbos good luck in his career and thank him for the work he has done for Jordan Grand Prix."

Testing update
Tiago Monteiro and Narain Karthikeyan carried out two days of testing the current EJ15 at the Circuit Paul Ricard, on 14 and 15 July in ideal weather conditions, contributing to the team's preparations for the German and Hungarian Grands Prix. They were joined by outgoing test driver, Robert Doornbos, who shared the driving duties on both days. The drivers’ schedule consisted of intensive work on
Bridgestone’s tyre test programme, general car set-ups and potential modifications for forthcoming races. They have also tested some development parts for the B-car and fundamental studies for the 2006 car. Karthikeyan completed the greatest number of laps on the Thursday with 101 laps. Between them, the drivers clocked up a total testing mileage of over 1100km and tried different track configurations, a characteristic of the Paul Ricard Circuit. Dominic Harlow, Chief Race & Test Engineer, said, "The test was very useful. We completed over 1100km in two days. The driving was shared among all three drivers with Narain and Tiago covering the majority of the work mainly for the race tyre programme on the first and second days respectively. We varied the circuit layout to gather as much different data as possible and more accurately simulate some aspects of the forthcoming events."